Read More

But she added: “I think that there is a big responsibility on the manufacturers to increase awareness and design of alternatives in order for people to properly understand what can and cannot be recycled as well as encouraging the use of greener alternatives which do exist.

“We have a huge plastic problem here in Northern Ireland.

“According to Keep NI Beautiful, between September 2012 and October 2016, 528 items of litter were observed per 100m of beach around NI and 91% of these items were plastic.

“At Ards and North Down Council I recently proposed a motion that banned single use plastics from our buildings in order for us to try and reduce our waste footprint as well as encouraging others to do so – the motion has been adopted and our council will be leading the way on this vital issue.

“I am also calling for the area to become part of the Refill Scheme which promotes the use of local cafes, bars and restaurants for people to fill up their bottles with water at for free, to encourage reuse of plastic bottles for drinking water.

“These measures are just the start as we have already caused great destruction to our environment and need a paradigm shift in order to make any real difference and implement a truly circular economy.”